Blogs from Bora Bora, French Polynesia, Oceania - page 2

I woke up at sunrise, stumbling out into the most beautiful scenery you could imagine, and realising its real. The sort of place where blinking is a sin because thats one millisecond of it you missed. I knew one thing about Bora Bora, I did not want to do the tourist things, I wanted to find out from the people what the real deal was, I was looking for the real Bora Bora, not the day visit cruise ship one. Two different things. The best way to get around Bora Bora as a single white female is hitching. Because there are no other SWFs heading rapidly towards that big 5-0 wandering along the islands one road by the time you have hitched your first lift, everyone knows who it was with and that you are..a pure ... read more

Bora Bora. It is a place that I had always wanted to go, purely for the fact that it sounds like a faraway remote exotic tropical paradise. I can say that all of those adjectives describe it very accurately, except for 'exotic'. At one point in time, maybe 20-30 years ago it would have been exotic, but not anymore, not in a place that boasts Four Seasons and St. Regis-type high-end resorts, a runway that can land G550's, and an anchorage that welcomes cruise ships........nothing ruins 'exotic' better than a cruise ship. As we were taking the tender into shore one of the nights we were there, we heard the sound of the beating of a drum. As one of the guys put it, 'if you heard that sound in Papua, you wouldn't continue going to ... read more

Bonjour day three, we woke up in Bora Bora. Not too bad right? Wen and Hinano told us to be up by 6:30 to go see the manta rays. There is nothing better than a sunrise for me, and I was up well before the rest of the group. The catamaran pulled anchor and set off before 6:00 am. Wen piloted the dingy to the spot where the manta ray feed on plankton. The group exited the boat, I always do my best impression of a Navy SEAL, holding my mask against my face, I drop off the boat with my camera in my other hand, feet straight up in the air. The water was cloudy and visibility was not but a few meters, but with a little effort to swim towards the bottom it didn’t ... read more

Motu Tapu Bora Bora, French Polynesia This Blog is just a rough text blog, to see photos please check out my main blog at http://scubasteve-ultimatedives.blogspot.com/ Bora Bora, just the name alone stirs images of beauty, romance, and adventure and rightly so. You would be hard pressed to find a more beautiful setting in the world. I had the pleasure to live in French Polynesia aboard the Tallship Star Flyer for about 8 months leading groups of divers from all over the world. I logged hundreds of dives in locations like: Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, Huahine, Tahaa, Raiatea, Rangiroa, and Fakarava, but I want to start with one of my all time favorites. Bora Bora, The Pearl of the Pacific, is located in the Society Archipelago. This of one of 5 (sometimes 6) island groups that make ... read more

Back again!! Did you wonder if we had disappeared into the bottom of the Pacific Ocean? Well, it is a big big ocean, and since leaving Lima 10 days ago, we haven't even seen another ship!!!! First stop after 5 days at sea was Easter Island. Although the weather was glorious, the seas were pretty high and it made it impossible for us to anchor and take the tender service to the small jetty in the town. However due to the good thinking and resourcefulness of Olav our Captain, and 'recky' team were sent ashore in a sheltered bay to the south of the island, where they were able to construct a make-shift pontoon to which they tied a second tender, and this gave us a jetty to enable the tenders to take us ashore!! We ... read more